Coral Spotlight | Stylophora

mikejrice · Dec 7, 2018

Common names: cauliflower coral, birdsnest

Difficulty Level: Stylophora is one of the most forgiving SPS corals.

Feeding: Stylophora has extremely small polyps and only the ability to capture the smallest items. Feeding is not usually needed in a well lit reef.

Lighting (Level 6 to 10): These corals easily adapt to all medium to high light conditions, and they do it relatively easily. Less acclimation is needed, but care should still be taken.

Water flow: Moderate to strong flow is needed to keep these corals clear of debris. More flow will yield tighter growing colonies while less flow will give them a looser branch formation.

Placement: Stylophora is a very peaceful coral and should be placed away from others with more aggressive tendencies. Keep in mind their unique growth forms when placing them.

General: These corals can easily be confused with some species of branching montipora and birdsnest. Luckily their care is very similar

https://captivecoral.net/portfolio/stylophora/

Lovemyreef2015 · Dec 8, 2018

These are one of my favorite corals. I just love the way they look and grow.

mikejrice · Jan 11, 2019

Here's a nice shot that shows some of the polyp detail at the end of this bright green stylophora branch. An interesting side note about this coral is that they very rarely encrust onto anything. Stylo seems to put every bit of its energy into growth at the tips leaving little time left for encrusting at the base. Always a fun one to mount and keep mounted long term as they grow heavier and heavier!

Reeves' Reef · Feb 4, 2019

Starting at the top. This colony was a twig when I got it (lost those photos). This first photo is about four months ago. Then a tiny frag that broke off in a terrible dipping incident. The third photo is this same colony this January '19. Then the last photo is a frag from another terrible dipping incident (not the same one as the first incident).